UCI scientist gets $640,000 for water study

Paul Clinton

A team of researchers at UC Irvine has been given funds to launch

a statewide water-quality study, which will include Upper Newport Bay

and Newport Harbor.

Led by noted scientist and lecturer Stanley Grant, who teaches

environmental engineering in the school’s Chemical Engineering and

Materials Science Department, the researchers are looking into what

role wetlands play in ocean pollution.

“We’ve known for some time that coastal wetlands are a critical

habitat for rare and endangered species,” Grant said. “The issue is

whether animal feces released from coastal wetlands are contributing

to beach closings in Southern California.”

The UC Office of the President handed Grant and his team $640,000

to complete the study.

UCI environmental engineer Brett Sanders, oceanographer Clinton

Winant and biological oceanographer Lisa Levin of the Scripps

Institution of Oceanography have said they will work with Grant

during the study.

Researchers said the study was needed to help uncover answers to a

persistent and enigmatic trend of postings and closures at beaches

that are caused by elevated bacteria levels in the water.

The group will study the Back Bay, Newport Harbor, the Santa Ana

River sloughs, Tijuana Estuary, San Diego Bay, Mission Bay, San

Dieguito Lagoon, the Ballona wetlands and the Mugu Lagoon.

Scientists have theorized that the bacterial outbreaks could

likely be caused by urban runoff, a polluted stew of animal waste,

human waste, pesticides and copper residue from car brakes that

washes off roadways.

In research done in a summer 2001 study, Grant and Sanders found

that bird droppings in Talbert Marsh contributed fecal matter to the

coastline off Huntington Beach.

“We want to know if our results from Talbert Marsh are unique to

that location or if this is a more widespread problem,” Sanders said.